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Now, without any further ado, let's dive into today's show.
Hello, everyone. Welcome back to another episode of the Genius Vets Show. I'm your host, David Hall, cofounder here at Genius Vets. And today, we are diving into a topic that every single independent veterinary practice owner in the country really, honestly, needs to hear, Because you're not just a veterinarian.
You're a practice owner. You're a business owner. And like a lot of small business owners, it's so easy to get caught in the weeds and get into the day to day, you know, everything that you're doing brilliantly to save the lives of animals and give them a healthier, happier life and and, you know, support the human animal bond and and all of these wonderful things. But it's easy to forget that as a business owner, you have a different you have a higher purpose as well.
You have to work above the business, and you have to really think about at the core of any business is the finances. Right?
So today, our guest is Eric Miller from Econologics Financial Advisors, and Eric is going to be you know, talk with us a little bit just about this stuff, diving in the financials. Eric served over twenty years in the financial industry. Co owns a national financial planning company dedicated to serving the needs of health care owners.
He's personally had over twenty thousand conversations with practice owners at every phase of ownership. He's published countless articles, videos, and podcasts on various financial topics and is an expert on matters concerning creating economic independence for practice owners' businesses and their households. He's recently published a book, how to become a financial beast, which quickly became a bestseller on Amazon. So I wanna welcome Eric Miller. Eric, thanks so much for, joining us here on the Genius Pet Show.
Thanks, David. That was a that was a genius opening right there. That was pretty awesome.
We try to live up to the name at least. You know?
Yeah.
Eric, tell me a little tell, you know, the audience. Share a little bit about kind of, you know, your career trajectory up to this point, you know, what you're doing, where you've been, that sort of thing.
Yeah. I mean, the long story short, we have always been fascinated with personal finances even for at a young age. And then in two thousand and eight, which was, you know, a perfect year to start a financial planning company amidst the financial crisis.
Wasn't it though?
Yeah. It was great.
Yeah.
We decided that, we'd start a firm down in Florida, and, we knew we wanted to work with, entrepreneurs. We wanted to work with, with people that that we believed in the kind of care that they that they delivered, and it really led us into working with health care owners. I have a background in health care. My family's in health care, and I saw that they were getting a lot of cookie cutter financial advice.
So it just naturally we just just, moved in that direction to helping them. And I found out early on that, you know, a lot of these people, very good at health care, helping patients, but when it came to managing money, understanding finances, just not an area that a lot of them really enjoyed or are very good at. So we we immersed ourselves in understanding, you know, how a veterinary practice operates, and then more importantly, how to make sure that that owner is getting full financial value for all of the energy and and heartache and and, what they put into that practice to make sure that they're actually getting some of the the fruits of their labor. And, we've been doing that really since, two thou gosh. Two thousand and nine.
I love it. Love it. It's such a great industry, and it's really it's just so needed. You know?
I mean, veterinarians I I'm saying this constantly, and this is you know, at Genius Vets, we've really kind of, you know, picked up the torch, and and are are waving the flag and sounding the horn for everybody for for people, pet owners, to help them understand that I mean, veterinarians are brilliant. They're brilliant people. It's harder to get into med school or or veterinary school than it is in med school. You know?
And people don't understand that. Like, it's these are really brilliant people.
They they just they've they've chased something. They've dedicated themselves to their passion.
You know?
And it it's funny. It's interesting because I've worked in a lot of different industries.
And I'll tell you what, like, I can if I go talk to a dentist and I say, hey. I can show you how to make an extra five hundred thousand dollars this year. They immediately go, cancel all my appointments. Hold my calls.
Let's talk right now. Like, let's sit down and do this. And they have to Koreans, like, by and large, you say something like that to them, and they're like, that's not why I do this. Like, you know, and and it's really truly not.
They they're they're compassionate.
They're passionate about practicing good medicine and delivering on that and sometimes at the expense of the business side of things. You know? So so diving into money Yep. Do you find that independent veterinary practice owners get wrong about money?
You know, it starts with and just to kinda add on to what you were saying right there. You know, I'll start every talk with, with a group of veterinarians by telling them that that money, having money is virtuous, it's righteous, and it's their actual right to have that. And then you would, like, be amazed at the look on their faces when I say that. Like, oh my god. Nobody's ever told me that before.
And, it just it it fascinates me, like, just their viewpoints on money because you're absolutely right. Most people knew they were gonna be a veterinarian when they were, like, five years old, and it had nothing to do with money.
But, look, we we live in a material world, and and money is important. And if you're gonna have a practice that you wanna expand and you wanna that you're proud of, then you gotta understand something about money. And by and large, most veterinarians just this is not an area that they're an expert at, And they never learned about, you know, the rules of money and where it comes from and how to manage it and, how to make sure that they're they're capturing it. So I think what they get wrong about money, number one, is just is the underestimation of actually how much they need to be able to live the life that they want to live.
And that really comes through in a couple different areas. It comes through in, you know, their their practice finances and then their personal finances. So, you know, we really try hard to to teach them some of these golden rules of of money. Not to make it complicated.
They don't need an advanced degree in accounting, you know, or understand, like, you know, all these different, you know, spreadsheets and and and complicated algorithmic, calculations. They just need to know some basics about how money works in a practice.
Yeah.
I mean, so you I hear you say that they're they underestimate how much they need personally to live the life that they want. But, again, I think that for a lot of veterinarians, this goes back to just being being humble people and feeling like, oh, I don't need, you know, so much. But, also, they do have their business, which does need a lot and is often very undervalued. We're we're working on a project right now.
We're about to come out very, very proud of this thing.
It's it's something we're we're teaming up with coming. They've been working on this for years. Been getting consulted by Terry O'Neil, who really knows veterinary finance well as a CPA.
And, it's it's gonna be the best platform in the industry for pulling out all of the financial data from PIM systems and their accounting systems and giving an amazing dashboard that's actually correct because so many of the you know, Terry O'Neil was telling me for years, and and I've had practice owners tell me for years that a lot of the, like, vet success and and the other you know, there's a couple other dashboards out there that try and pull information in and and give business intelligence to practice owners, and they get the data wrong. And And I didn't understand how do they get what do you mean they get the data wrong?
Like, they're just pulling it wrong? Like, what do you mean they get it wrong from the thing? And there's a thousand things. Like, someone shows up and they've got, you know, a dog and two cats.
And so the practice will put in a dog and two cats, but the dog is the only one they ever bring to the practice. So excuse client numbers. And they don't account for all of the disposable stuff they're using during exams, and that's just bleeding stuff out. And they're like, where's my margin?
So, like, I know that there's a lot of stuff in their businesses. So do you feel that they're also underestimating how much they really need to run the practice?
Oh, that that is the fundamental problem right there. Like, Like, you go into a practice and you ask an owner, like, hey. What's your make break number? Like, and everyone says, oh, my make break number is how much I need to to make sure that I can pay the bills.
And I'm like, no. That's not your make break number. Your make break number includes, you know, all of your expenses.
But what about your profits? What about the compensation to you personally for all the risk that you took to put this practice there? What about having emergency savings so that, you know, if something happens, you know, you're not like, oh my gosh. Where are we gonna get the money for, you know, this? What about biz a business expansion account or your own personal taxes? Because the business gives you a tax issue, every single year at the end of the year. And there are really these four, quote, unquote, we call them expenses, but, really, they are your profits.
And you have to treat them like an expense. Well, most owners don't. So when I ask them, how much do you need to bring in a month? And they're like, well, a hundred and twenty thousand. Then I go in there and I say, k. If we really reconfigure this and we figure out what you need to bring in, it's more like a hundred and forty thousand. Most people most owners are underestimating their make break number by at least fifteen to twenty percent.
And that's why they feel like I don't have any money, you know, or I'm always kind of like, where where do I get to see the benefit of this personally? And it really starts there and just reconfiguring that number.
Yeah. It's like, as an entrepreneur, that entrepreneurial mentality, I come from a family of all entrepreneurs. My my grandfather, who was very successful, built a huge communication company. He looked at all of his kids, and he would always say the Christmases and stuff growing up. Well, none of my kids could hold down a job, so they all had to start their own, you know, business or whatever. They were all, you know, and he had a bunch of kids. They they're all all entrepreneurs.
And, so I grew up in this mentality. And, you know, when you're an entrepreneur, you're trying to grow the business. There's all that, as you said, that sacrifice in the early years.
That is necessary in early years, getting something off the ground. I mean, you gotta there's a lot of expenses and, you know, as on as the as the owner, you're kinda getting the scraps, but it lays this, like, mentality where you just get used to feeding on scraps. And so, like, when you when I heard you say, it resonated so deep with me when you say, they say that they have, you know, your example, a hundred twenty. You know, they need a hundred twenty. Is there is there a kinda number to cover the knot and break everything? And you go, that's wait.
But if you pay yourself Yeah.
Yeah.
That expands here, and they're just not used to looking at them. So because those early years, you're like, you really are just feeding on the scraps. But so how would you how do you is there a point?
How do you do that?
And you know this startup, like, that startup. So where is the point where an entrepreneur needs to say, is it day one and they've we they've been making a mistake the whole time, or is there a certain level of comfort where they go, now I have to go. This is my what I'm and and consider my salary and everything else that I really want as a hardcore expense of the business that has to be covered.
I put it in I put it in as early as I as possibly can because the way I look at it, money comes from necessity.
And when you look at that viewpoint, I mean, why why do people cover their rent? Why do people cover their mortgage notes? Why do people cover their tax bill? Because I need to.
So why aren't you putting your profits in there with the same importance that that you do all your other expenses?
And it's not easy to do, and you have to do it small to start. I wouldn't, like, advise everyone. I'll just try all of a sudden just, you know, start taking, you know, these certain profits. Start on a gradient, and then you build up, but you make you treat them like an expense, like anything else. And by doing that, it's amazing what ends up happening. I mean, I've had so many people bet me, like, you know, because I'll have I'll have owners, take ten percent of their practice revenue and channel that into a separate account that is for their their personal use.
And they say, Eric, I'll do that, but my business is gonna be broke by the end of the year.
Okay? I'm like, I bet you it won't be. And almost ninety nine percent of the time, you know, I'll I'll call an owner, and they'll be like, wow. I have money over here in this account, and my business still has plenty of money in it to operate.
I don't know where it came from. I thought I had a good handle on money. I'm like, no. You just didn't have the right necessity level.
And by doing that, it's, you know, it's just it's amazing to to watch the effects of that. Because now they were like, oh my gosh. Like, now I feel like it's it's worth having this. And, you know, I think that's a major cause for burnout too when owners aren't paying themselves correctly because it's like, hey.
I'm doing all this work. And I'm not getting anything in, in exchange for that. I think that's a major cause for burnout.
Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. To to have a denial that that is a purpose of having a business, you know, is, it's really a shame. It it's such a detriment to a business owner to forget that a massive, if not the most important reason that you own this business is to to make money, to make money doing it the way you want, bringing the value you want to the world.
But in the end, if you were making any money, could you continue doing it? If you could, great. You're independently wealthy. You know?
Do what you want. But if it's not the case, it is definitely to make money. And when you see that it's actually coming in and it's working and it feels really good, it is so motivating.
And it's so reinforcing, you know, to that. You you talk about the golden rules of income and expenses. Can you can you dive into that for us?
Yeah. It's simple. An organization I mean, doesn't matter how big your organization is, whether you're doing five hundred thousand, a year or or ten million dollars a year with ten vets.
Your practice is gonna try to spend every dollar that it makes and then some. Okay? That's it's just a natural law.
Like my family.
Yeah. There you go.
It's just a natural law of money. It's like, groups make terrible decisions with money. I mean, let's take congress. I mean, we have thirty trillion dollars in debt. What do you think that means? Everything they try to spend everything that it makes. But then the second law is that, you know, you're you're gonna make exactly what you think you need to make to survive, and that's the law of necessity.
And that's why it's so important that if you ever wanna have retirement reserves or you wanna have emergency funds or you wanna have extra money or profits, you have to make them part of your, quote, unquote, operating expenses.
They're nonnegotiable.
They're treated on the on on on par with any other expense that you have. And if you really grasp that and understand that and start treating it like that, then you'll you'll never have a problem with money again in your practice.
Yeah. I love that.
It's I almost want to just be quite like, have a moment of silence and let that sink in people.
But moment of silence doesn't go over too well in a webinar podcast.
It's just as awkward. Right? Yeah.
But but, honestly, I mean, if people will will let that that wisdom there settle in, it's so true. It's just, it's it's sort of like Parkinson's law. Right?
An activity will it will, you know, expand to fit the amount of time you've allotted to it, You know, whether you have ten minutes or you've got an hour, that's how long it take. Yeah. And it's the same thing with finances. It really is.
But nobody's teaching people the vets this, you know, unfortunately. I mean, there's very few, you know, people in the industry, you know, aside from Terry O'Neil that understands, you know, the business side of this, that are teaching vets these things. I mean, their their CPAs aren't doing it. Most of their CPAs aren't doing it. Their their advisors aren't doing it. Their bookkeepers aren't doing it.
You know, someone has to get out there.
Do it. Lay it out. Like, do you do you is that something or they need to read to get the secret sauce?
I mean, there is a secret sauce, but, but, honestly, it's as simple as setting up those four accounts.
And when a doll look. When a dollar comes into your organization, you should know where ninety nine percent of it's gonna go already, right, before it comes in.
And so first thing we'll do is that we'll have, you know, our owners set up these four accounts, so that we can, you know, reconfigure what their make break number is and then start channeling money, into these accounts. You know, people can control money.
And, you know, the only way the way that you're gonna do that is that you have to assign money a purpose. If you don't assign money a purpose, it's gonna go everywhere. And I challenge everyone this. Like, if you got you got money in your do people even carry cash anymore?
I don't know. I carry cash sometimes. But if I got fifty bucks in my pocket and I don't have a a purpose for it, dude, it's gonna get spent at some point in time. So we you have to make sure that money has a purpose.
So we set up these accounts that have a purpose.
And the one that's probably what I found to be the most, I don't wanna call it ingenious, but one that we found that that really allows the owners to create multiple income sources for their household is we call it a wealth storage account. So, literally, I have them take ten percent of their practice revenue every single week, and I have them, remove it from their business account, and it goes into a personal, what we call, well storage account. It's just a bank account. Okay? And that account is is not for bigger cars, or bigger homes, not that vets would do that anyway.
It's for them to create other income sources. So they're not relying upon their business for the rest of their lives or for their retirement.
And you can imagine This fascinates me.
Right? Yeah.
Alright. I I would love to hear you you dive into the multiple streams of income that Yeah. You see are, you know, things that that veterinarians are are doing, are picking up and and, you know, successfully adding because there's there's definitely a lot of things overall, just the personalities that I that we see among practice owners. There's a a version to a to a number of things. Right?
For sure.
That just that wouldn't excite them. So what are the things that you're finding as these multiple stream of income opportunities that vets are actually, you know, getting excited about and and doing?
Yeah. I try to keep it simple. I try to keep it in things that historically have been able to to you know, when people invest money, what do they want? They wanna get their they want yeah. But they wanna get their money back. Yeah. Most people wanna get their money back.
So we have to look at if I'm gonna invest money outside of my practice, I wanna make sure, number one, I'm gonna get my money back. So what are the areas that are most likely gonna return your money back? I think intelligent investing in real estate will be one.
In putting money in a, in, a stock and bond portfolio that's, you know, maybe heavy on dividends or or fixed income would be another. And then something called insurance based products, which are a whole another industry that protects money and provides guaranteed income for owners. Okay? And some combination of all three of those is which we usually do, allow someone to safely put money over aside and not have to be concerned whether or not they're gonna not get their money back at some point.
Obviously, you can't guarantee anything, and there's risks in in anything that you do, but I don't think a lot of people realize just how much risk they take in their business. I mean, their business is super risky. I mean, you lose one vet. I mean, what does that do to the value of your business?
I mean, it plummets it. Yeah. Plummets the production, it plummets the value. So it's like, I take my risk here in my main business.
I don't take a lot of risk in my outs in my outside or my personal investments because I want them to pay me cash flow every single month. It's as simple as that.
Nice.
I wish it was more sec I wish it was more sexy or or you know, but it's No.
Actually, simple simple and and, yeah, additional adding things like that, you don't wanna add a lot of complexity. Right? There's a lot of complexity that's going on in the practice, streamline and simplify the other things.
So is that looked at on their everything that they're putting into that other account, I mean, is that are they looking at as the business paying to them and then they're holding it separately? Is it actually held by the business? What's the structure for that?
I I I I physically remove it from the business. Because if I don't, it's gonna get spent inside the business. So we we get it out we rip it out of the business.
It doesn't matter from a tax standpoint. If they leave money in their business or they take money out personally, they're still gonna pay tax on it. So it doesn't really matter from a tax perspective.
But, yeah, it's something that we we try to remove from the practice for them to to, to be able to invest personally.
Yeah. That makes a lot of sense. And they can they can talk with their CPA and tax planner about about those, little details. But, yeah, that that that's strong. That sort of discipline, it makes all the difference in the world. You know?
The other thing I'd I'd love for you to touch on is, talking about exiting a little bit. So over the last few years, obviously, you know, we we we went through the huge the wave. We got to the peak. We're back in a a trough, you know, in terms of of acquisitions.
And a lot of the owners who who didn't sell, you know, when when, you know, acquisitions were at their peak, when multiples were high and it was a feeding frenzy and they didn't go sell then, If if they if they decided for whatever reason, maybe they're just like, hey. I've I've still got a long career here. I'm not ready for that or, you know, whatever it may be. It's certainly, I will tell you, overall, that activity raised the business acumen of practice owners across the country.
I mean, of them just understanding now more valuations and balance sheets and and understanding return on investment, understanding just a lot of a lot of, you know, core basic fundamental business concepts that weren't quite as as commonly understood well before that. I I've seen it the increase in the business acumen, but also a lot of practice owners going like, okay. Well, I if I didn't I didn't exit then, I what is the exit plan? And it's definitely just something that that is more top of mind for people.
And and personally, I think there's another, acquisition wave that's gonna be coming in about five years or so that I think is really tied to the wave of new grads that are gonna be coming from, you know, all the all the vet schools have increased class size, and they approved twelve new vet schools to come online. And if all that plays out, there will be a a, you know, a lot of vets who end up hitting the market between the next five and ten years. And when that happens, you know, we're probably whatever about eight years or so, if that if that plays out, away from potentially the the salaries, and how much vets are paid coming down just because of supply and demand.
And I think a lot of corporates are gonna see, hey, if this plays out because there's the exact same thing played out twenty five years ago in the pharmaceutical industry. And and pharmacists are now effectively earning about fifty percent of what they were earning fifty or sorry, twenty five years ago.
I didn't know that.
Yeah. If you you adjust for inflation. And it was the exact same thing that's been happening in in veterinary. So there's a lot of smart, you know, PE people who who know and recognize that as they see if they if all these schools come online and they start dumping, they they know that they're only five to ten years max from from that playing out, from there being so money in in supply and demand that the most expensive person on staff could be looking at a reduction in overall salary, which becomes profit margin, you know, on a on a corporate balance sheet.
So I think that that's going to drive another big wave of acquisitions that is gonna come back. I think we're in a trough now, and that's gonna be the next wave. So, you know and if you're gonna sell, selling during a feeding frenzy, you get a lot more than you do, you know, when there's not so much activity going on. So for practices that are looking and, you know, how do you advise people to to start thinking about planning and and the things that they should do so that when they actually are whether it's whether it's in six months, two years, five years, ten years, what do they do to plan to maximize that value?
Yeah. You can't control the environment. So whether you're getting a twenty multiple or twelve multiple, which is still awesome. I mean, right now, I mean, they're getting twelve or thirteen multiples, which still pretty awesome.
You know? I mean, when you when you look at that, really comes down to two things. You know? Are you what's your emotional readiness to transition?
What's your financial readiness to transition? Those are the first two questions I'll ask somebody. You know, if they're actually done with the game of ownership and they wanted to go move on to do something else and it's not because they're just burnout, then obviously, you know, that's that's a good reason to transition. And you gotta make sure that that's the case.
That the financial readiness is, is the sale of my practice, and, what I've what I've currently accumulated, in investable assets going to be enough to allow me to live the life that I wanna live? And that, of course, takes a financial analysis that has to be done. And those are two really important questions that, that we ask most of our owners, you know, prior to exiting and obviously do an evaluation to make sure that that's gonna be enough.
As far as, like, getting prepared for a a sale, look. You know, I I always go back to know who your buyers are going to be. Who's gonna buy you? Now in in most cases, you know, ninety percent of deals lately have been by PE, by by corporate groups.
And there are things that they like, and there's things that they don't like. And if you wanna sell to them, which you don't have to, but if you're going to, then you wanna build your business for what they like. Obviously, they like a good, they like a practice that has multiple, veterinarians.
They like one that has a certain profit margin. They wanna see that you're, you're growing and you have new patients, that you're demographically in a good area, that you don't have any compliance issues or anything or or, you know, legal issues going on, and that you have, you know, good leadership and and low turnover in your staff. I mean, those are pretty simple concepts right there. And if you can if you can, you know, align your business to look like that, then you're gonna probably get the higher multiples that are out there.
But if you stay one doctor practice and, you know, your profit margins are, you know, ten percent and, you know, you got a lot of, you know, toxicity at in your practice and and such, you know, you're not gonna get the high multiples.
So it it really just comes down to treating your practice like an investment and not a job.
Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. That's yeah.
I I love it. It's I mean, because when we're gonna say, I mean, you'd have to sit down, you have to do the work. And you need somebody to kinda it it really helps to have somebody who's gonna guide you through, you know, all those considerations, that framework, and all of that. And I know that that is something that that you do, that you offer, that you could, you know, could sit down and help people, talk through that. Yeah?
Oh, for sure. I think most most people need a plan, and they need to have a good financial team, a really good financial team. And I prefer to have a a financial team that understands your industry. I just think there's so much value in that. And talking with, you know, CPAs that that work solely with veterinarians and attorneys that work with veterinarians and, you know, mergers and acquisitions people that that work just with veterinarians. I mean, they just there there are things that they know to ask, and they they see the deal structures and, you know, they can see what other people have done. I just think there's so much value in working with people that understand you're interested.
There's a thousand little things that are very specific and very common in this industry that also aren't really common in other industries and are are are fairly unique and and need to be considered. And so, you know, working with an outside team that's brilliant, but is gonna take a few years to continuously keep discovering these weird little funky things that they have to have to be accounted for and considered much better to to to work with with people that that really understand, you know, the depth of all those different types of things. Well, I know that everybody can reach out to you. We want them to. And you actually brought this really cool giveaway, that you were offering everybody. So we wanna pop up there in chat.
Go to wealth for practice owners dot com. We'll put a link in chat. If you're listening to this on a podcast, wealth for practice owners dot com, and there is a practice expansion checklist there that you gotta go check out. You wanna tell them a little bit about that?
Yeah. I think a question we get a lot is, can I expand? Am I in the right condition to expand my practice? And, you know, we've I've dealt with enough owners to see, like, here are some things that I would look for to make sure that you're in the right condition to expand. So we have a bit of a checklist here that you can go through. Doesn't have to be a hundred percent, that you have all these things in place, but the majority of them, if you have those in place, then, that would give you a lot of confidence that you can expand and and do it in a way that, you know, you don't regret it, you know, six months later.
Yeah. That's that's important. That's helpful. You know?
Making sure that you you have a good plan going into it and you're not regretting it. And a lot of you know, not everybody's in a in a, you know, situation where they can expand.
Right.
My partner, doctor Drake, as much as the Drake Center is just a a a prize practice, they're physically limited. They can't expand their building. They can only bring on so much. They they did get creative during COVID and built an annex in an an adjacent building, which was was a difficult, thing to do.
Beauto turned out beautifully, though, and it it did help them achieve some expansion. But truthfully, I mean, if they didn't have the city limiting what they could do, they they could the business has the ability to grow significantly more. There's a lot of people out there that that can expand, and that's fantastic for you guys. Again, one more time, wealth for practice owners dot com.
Check it out. Go to the get the expansion checklist. And then, of course, for anybody who wants to follow-up with Eric and just, you know, get the ball rolling, for financial conversations that make a lot of sense, that can help you out with somebody who understands you, who understands your situation, understands this industry, go to econologics financial advisors dot com. I know it's a mouthful.
We're gonna go ahead and put that in chat and in the show notes as well. Econologics financial advisors dot com.
Eric, any parting words of wisdom?
Jeez. What can I tell people?
Don't be afraid to confront your finances. It's it's the only thing that will allow you to change your condition.
Just be willing to confront them, and I I think it usually starts with that.
I love that. And I love what you said early on too. Like, having money is righteous. You know?
Totally is.
The one one perspective on that that I I wanted to say right when you when you said that at the top of the show.
Look. There's money that's out there. All the money that's out there, it's in it's in somebody's pocket. Right?
And and it it changes hands and it goes around, and not everybody out there is as is as, like, just good and altruistic and empathetic and wonderful as veterinarians are by and large. I mean, veterinarians are just great people. Let's put more hands on the money of really good people because they're gonna they're more likely to do good things with it. Right?
There's there's a little bit that you use just like you talk about, hey. You gotta have your buckets and everything to get paid for. Some of it's the fun bucket to go treat yourself. You deserve it.
But vets are gonna put do a lot more that's good for the world because that's just who they are. So let's let's get some more money in vets' pockets.
That's that's perfect. I couldn't agree more.
I love that. Well, thank you so much for taking some time and joining us here today on the Genius Pet Show. And, for everybody else, stay tuned. Got something for you real quick.
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Now, without any further ado, let's dive into today's show.
Hello, everyone. Welcome back to another episode of the Genius Vets Show. I'm your host, David Hall, cofounder here at Genius Vets. And today, we are diving into a topic that every single independent veterinary practice owner in the country really, honestly, needs to hear, Because you're not just a veterinarian.
You're a practice owner. You're a business owner. And like a lot of small business owners, it's so easy to get caught in the weeds and get into the day to day, you know, everything that you're doing brilliantly to save the lives of animals and give them a healthier, happier life and and, you know, support the human animal bond and and all of these wonderful things. But it's easy to forget that as a business owner, you have a different you have a higher purpose as well.
You have to work above the business, and you have to really think about at the core of any business is the finances. Right?
So today, our guest is Eric Miller from Econologics Financial Advisors, and Eric is going to be you know, talk with us a little bit just about this stuff, diving in the financials. Eric served over twenty years in the financial industry. Co owns a national financial planning company dedicated to serving the needs of health care owners.
He's personally had over twenty thousand conversations with practice owners at every phase of ownership. He's published countless articles, videos, and podcasts on various financial topics and is an expert on matters concerning creating economic independence for practice owners' businesses and their households. He's recently published a book, how to become a financial beast, which quickly became a bestseller on Amazon. So I wanna welcome Eric Miller. Eric, thanks so much for, joining us here on the Genius Pet Show.
Thanks, David. That was a that was a genius opening right there. That was pretty awesome.
We try to live up to the name at least. You know?
Yeah.
Eric, tell me a little tell, you know, the audience. Share a little bit about kind of, you know, your career trajectory up to this point, you know, what you're doing, where you've been, that sort of thing.
Yeah. I mean, the long story short, we have always been fascinated with personal finances even for at a young age. And then in two thousand and eight, which was, you know, a perfect year to start a financial planning company amidst the financial crisis.
Wasn't it though?
Yeah. It was great.
Yeah.
We decided that, we'd start a firm down in Florida, and, we knew we wanted to work with, entrepreneurs. We wanted to work with, with people that that we believed in the kind of care that they that they delivered, and it really led us into working with health care owners. I have a background in health care. My family's in health care, and I saw that they were getting a lot of cookie cutter financial advice.
So it just naturally we just just, moved in that direction to helping them. And I found out early on that, you know, a lot of these people, very good at health care, helping patients, but when it came to managing money, understanding finances, just not an area that a lot of them really enjoyed or are very good at. So we we immersed ourselves in understanding, you know, how a veterinary practice operates, and then more importantly, how to make sure that that owner is getting full financial value for all of the energy and and heartache and and, what they put into that practice to make sure that they're actually getting some of the the fruits of their labor. And, we've been doing that really since, two thou gosh. Two thousand and nine.
I love it. Love it. It's such a great industry, and it's really it's just so needed. You know?
I mean, veterinarians I I'm saying this constantly, and this is you know, at Genius Vets, we've really kind of, you know, picked up the torch, and and are are waving the flag and sounding the horn for everybody for for people, pet owners, to help them understand that I mean, veterinarians are brilliant. They're brilliant people. It's harder to get into med school or or veterinary school than it is in med school. You know?
And people don't understand that. Like, it's these are really brilliant people.
They they just they've they've chased something. They've dedicated themselves to their passion.
You know?
And it it's funny. It's interesting because I've worked in a lot of different industries.
And I'll tell you what, like, I can if I go talk to a dentist and I say, hey. I can show you how to make an extra five hundred thousand dollars this year. They immediately go, cancel all my appointments. Hold my calls.
Let's talk right now. Like, let's sit down and do this. And they have to Koreans, like, by and large, you say something like that to them, and they're like, that's not why I do this. Like, you know, and and it's really truly not.
They they're they're compassionate.
They're passionate about practicing good medicine and delivering on that and sometimes at the expense of the business side of things. You know? So so diving into money Yep. Do you find that independent veterinary practice owners get wrong about money?
You know, it starts with and just to kinda add on to what you were saying right there. You know, I'll start every talk with, with a group of veterinarians by telling them that that money, having money is virtuous, it's righteous, and it's their actual right to have that. And then you would, like, be amazed at the look on their faces when I say that. Like, oh my god. Nobody's ever told me that before.
And, it just it it fascinates me, like, just their viewpoints on money because you're absolutely right. Most people knew they were gonna be a veterinarian when they were, like, five years old, and it had nothing to do with money.
But, look, we we live in a material world, and and money is important. And if you're gonna have a practice that you wanna expand and you wanna that you're proud of, then you gotta understand something about money. And by and large, most veterinarians just this is not an area that they're an expert at, And they never learned about, you know, the rules of money and where it comes from and how to manage it and, how to make sure that they're they're capturing it. So I think what they get wrong about money, number one, is just is the underestimation of actually how much they need to be able to live the life that they want to live.
And that really comes through in a couple different areas. It comes through in, you know, their their practice finances and then their personal finances. So, you know, we really try hard to to teach them some of these golden rules of of money. Not to make it complicated.
They don't need an advanced degree in accounting, you know, or understand, like, you know, all these different, you know, spreadsheets and and and complicated algorithmic, calculations. They just need to know some basics about how money works in a practice.
Yeah.
I mean, so you I hear you say that they're they underestimate how much they need personally to live the life that they want. But, again, I think that for a lot of veterinarians, this goes back to just being being humble people and feeling like, oh, I don't need, you know, so much. But, also, they do have their business, which does need a lot and is often very undervalued. We're we're working on a project right now.
We're about to come out very, very proud of this thing.
It's it's something we're we're teaming up with coming. They've been working on this for years. Been getting consulted by Terry O'Neil, who really knows veterinary finance well as a CPA.
And, it's it's gonna be the best platform in the industry for pulling out all of the financial data from PIM systems and their accounting systems and giving an amazing dashboard that's actually correct because so many of the you know, Terry O'Neil was telling me for years, and and I've had practice owners tell me for years that a lot of the, like, vet success and and the other you know, there's a couple other dashboards out there that try and pull information in and and give business intelligence to practice owners, and they get the data wrong. And And I didn't understand how do they get what do you mean they get the data wrong?
Like, they're just pulling it wrong? Like, what do you mean they get it wrong from the thing? And there's a thousand things. Like, someone shows up and they've got, you know, a dog and two cats.
And so the practice will put in a dog and two cats, but the dog is the only one they ever bring to the practice. So excuse client numbers. And they don't account for all of the disposable stuff they're using during exams, and that's just bleeding stuff out. And they're like, where's my margin?
So, like, I know that there's a lot of stuff in their businesses. So do you feel that they're also underestimating how much they really need to run the practice?
Oh, that that is the fundamental problem right there. Like, Like, you go into a practice and you ask an owner, like, hey. What's your make break number? Like, and everyone says, oh, my make break number is how much I need to to make sure that I can pay the bills.
And I'm like, no. That's not your make break number. Your make break number includes, you know, all of your expenses.
But what about your profits? What about the compensation to you personally for all the risk that you took to put this practice there? What about having emergency savings so that, you know, if something happens, you know, you're not like, oh my gosh. Where are we gonna get the money for, you know, this? What about biz a business expansion account or your own personal taxes? Because the business gives you a tax issue, every single year at the end of the year. And there are really these four, quote, unquote, we call them expenses, but, really, they are your profits.
And you have to treat them like an expense. Well, most owners don't. So when I ask them, how much do you need to bring in a month? And they're like, well, a hundred and twenty thousand. Then I go in there and I say, k. If we really reconfigure this and we figure out what you need to bring in, it's more like a hundred and forty thousand. Most people most owners are underestimating their make break number by at least fifteen to twenty percent.
And that's why they feel like I don't have any money, you know, or I'm always kind of like, where where do I get to see the benefit of this personally? And it really starts there and just reconfiguring that number.
Yeah. It's like, as an entrepreneur, that entrepreneurial mentality, I come from a family of all entrepreneurs. My my grandfather, who was very successful, built a huge communication company. He looked at all of his kids, and he would always say the Christmases and stuff growing up. Well, none of my kids could hold down a job, so they all had to start their own, you know, business or whatever. They were all, you know, and he had a bunch of kids. They they're all all entrepreneurs.
And, so I grew up in this mentality. And, you know, when you're an entrepreneur, you're trying to grow the business. There's all that, as you said, that sacrifice in the early years.
That is necessary in early years, getting something off the ground. I mean, you gotta there's a lot of expenses and, you know, as on as the as the owner, you're kinda getting the scraps, but it lays this, like, mentality where you just get used to feeding on scraps. And so, like, when you when I heard you say, it resonated so deep with me when you say, they say that they have, you know, your example, a hundred twenty. You know, they need a hundred twenty. Is there is there a kinda number to cover the knot and break everything? And you go, that's wait.
But if you pay yourself Yeah.
Yeah.
That expands here, and they're just not used to looking at them. So because those early years, you're like, you really are just feeding on the scraps. But so how would you how do you is there a point?
How do you do that?
And you know this startup, like, that startup. So where is the point where an entrepreneur needs to say, is it day one and they've we they've been making a mistake the whole time, or is there a certain level of comfort where they go, now I have to go. This is my what I'm and and consider my salary and everything else that I really want as a hardcore expense of the business that has to be covered.
I put it in I put it in as early as I as possibly can because the way I look at it, money comes from necessity.
And when you look at that viewpoint, I mean, why why do people cover their rent? Why do people cover their mortgage notes? Why do people cover their tax bill? Because I need to.
So why aren't you putting your profits in there with the same importance that that you do all your other expenses?
And it's not easy to do, and you have to do it small to start. I wouldn't, like, advise everyone. I'll just try all of a sudden just, you know, start taking, you know, these certain profits. Start on a gradient, and then you build up, but you make you treat them like an expense, like anything else. And by doing that, it's amazing what ends up happening. I mean, I've had so many people bet me, like, you know, because I'll have I'll have owners, take ten percent of their practice revenue and channel that into a separate account that is for their their personal use.
And they say, Eric, I'll do that, but my business is gonna be broke by the end of the year.
Okay? I'm like, I bet you it won't be. And almost ninety nine percent of the time, you know, I'll I'll call an owner, and they'll be like, wow. I have money over here in this account, and my business still has plenty of money in it to operate.
I don't know where it came from. I thought I had a good handle on money. I'm like, no. You just didn't have the right necessity level.
And by doing that, it's, you know, it's just it's amazing to to watch the effects of that. Because now they were like, oh my gosh. Like, now I feel like it's it's worth having this. And, you know, I think that's a major cause for burnout too when owners aren't paying themselves correctly because it's like, hey.
I'm doing all this work. And I'm not getting anything in, in exchange for that. I think that's a major cause for burnout.
Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. To to have a denial that that is a purpose of having a business, you know, is, it's really a shame. It it's such a detriment to a business owner to forget that a massive, if not the most important reason that you own this business is to to make money, to make money doing it the way you want, bringing the value you want to the world.
But in the end, if you were making any money, could you continue doing it? If you could, great. You're independently wealthy. You know?
Do what you want. But if it's not the case, it is definitely to make money. And when you see that it's actually coming in and it's working and it feels really good, it is so motivating.
And it's so reinforcing, you know, to that. You you talk about the golden rules of income and expenses. Can you can you dive into that for us?
Yeah. It's simple. An organization I mean, doesn't matter how big your organization is, whether you're doing five hundred thousand, a year or or ten million dollars a year with ten vets.
Your practice is gonna try to spend every dollar that it makes and then some. Okay? That's it's just a natural law.
Like my family.
Yeah. There you go.
It's just a natural law of money. It's like, groups make terrible decisions with money. I mean, let's take congress. I mean, we have thirty trillion dollars in debt. What do you think that means? Everything they try to spend everything that it makes. But then the second law is that, you know, you're you're gonna make exactly what you think you need to make to survive, and that's the law of necessity.
And that's why it's so important that if you ever wanna have retirement reserves or you wanna have emergency funds or you wanna have extra money or profits, you have to make them part of your, quote, unquote, operating expenses.
They're nonnegotiable.
They're treated on the on on on par with any other expense that you have. And if you really grasp that and understand that and start treating it like that, then you'll you'll never have a problem with money again in your practice.
Yeah. I love that.
It's I almost want to just be quite like, have a moment of silence and let that sink in people.
But moment of silence doesn't go over too well in a webinar podcast.
It's just as awkward. Right? Yeah.
But but, honestly, I mean, if people will will let that that wisdom there settle in, it's so true. It's just, it's it's sort of like Parkinson's law. Right?
An activity will it will, you know, expand to fit the amount of time you've allotted to it, You know, whether you have ten minutes or you've got an hour, that's how long it take. Yeah. And it's the same thing with finances. It really is.
But nobody's teaching people the vets this, you know, unfortunately. I mean, there's very few, you know, people in the industry, you know, aside from Terry O'Neil that understands, you know, the business side of this, that are teaching vets these things. I mean, their their CPAs aren't doing it. Most of their CPAs aren't doing it. Their their advisors aren't doing it. Their bookkeepers aren't doing it.
You know, someone has to get out there.
Do it. Lay it out. Like, do you do you is that something or they need to read to get the secret sauce?
I mean, there is a secret sauce, but, but, honestly, it's as simple as setting up those four accounts.
And when a doll look. When a dollar comes into your organization, you should know where ninety nine percent of it's gonna go already, right, before it comes in.
And so first thing we'll do is that we'll have, you know, our owners set up these four accounts, so that we can, you know, reconfigure what their make break number is and then start channeling money, into these accounts. You know, people can control money.
And, you know, the only way the way that you're gonna do that is that you have to assign money a purpose. If you don't assign money a purpose, it's gonna go everywhere. And I challenge everyone this. Like, if you got you got money in your do people even carry cash anymore?
I don't know. I carry cash sometimes. But if I got fifty bucks in my pocket and I don't have a a purpose for it, dude, it's gonna get spent at some point in time. So we you have to make sure that money has a purpose.
So we set up these accounts that have a purpose.
And the one that's probably what I found to be the most, I don't wanna call it ingenious, but one that we found that that really allows the owners to create multiple income sources for their household is we call it a wealth storage account. So, literally, I have them take ten percent of their practice revenue every single week, and I have them, remove it from their business account, and it goes into a personal, what we call, well storage account. It's just a bank account. Okay? And that account is is not for bigger cars, or bigger homes, not that vets would do that anyway.
It's for them to create other income sources. So they're not relying upon their business for the rest of their lives or for their retirement.
And you can imagine This fascinates me.
Right? Yeah.
Alright. I I would love to hear you you dive into the multiple streams of income that Yeah. You see are, you know, things that that veterinarians are are doing, are picking up and and, you know, successfully adding because there's there's definitely a lot of things overall, just the personalities that I that we see among practice owners. There's a a version to a to a number of things. Right?
For sure.
That just that wouldn't excite them. So what are the things that you're finding as these multiple stream of income opportunities that vets are actually, you know, getting excited about and and doing?
Yeah. I try to keep it simple. I try to keep it in things that historically have been able to to you know, when people invest money, what do they want? They wanna get their they want yeah. But they wanna get their money back. Yeah. Most people wanna get their money back.
So we have to look at if I'm gonna invest money outside of my practice, I wanna make sure, number one, I'm gonna get my money back. So what are the areas that are most likely gonna return your money back? I think intelligent investing in real estate will be one.
In putting money in a, in, a stock and bond portfolio that's, you know, maybe heavy on dividends or or fixed income would be another. And then something called insurance based products, which are a whole another industry that protects money and provides guaranteed income for owners. Okay? And some combination of all three of those is which we usually do, allow someone to safely put money over aside and not have to be concerned whether or not they're gonna not get their money back at some point.
Obviously, you can't guarantee anything, and there's risks in in anything that you do, but I don't think a lot of people realize just how much risk they take in their business. I mean, their business is super risky. I mean, you lose one vet. I mean, what does that do to the value of your business?
I mean, it plummets it. Yeah. Plummets the production, it plummets the value. So it's like, I take my risk here in my main business.
I don't take a lot of risk in my outs in my outside or my personal investments because I want them to pay me cash flow every single month. It's as simple as that.
Nice.
I wish it was more sec I wish it was more sexy or or you know, but it's No.
Actually, simple simple and and, yeah, additional adding things like that, you don't wanna add a lot of complexity. Right? There's a lot of complexity that's going on in the practice, streamline and simplify the other things.
So is that looked at on their everything that they're putting into that other account, I mean, is that are they looking at as the business paying to them and then they're holding it separately? Is it actually held by the business? What's the structure for that?
I I I I physically remove it from the business. Because if I don't, it's gonna get spent inside the business. So we we get it out we rip it out of the business.
It doesn't matter from a tax standpoint. If they leave money in their business or they take money out personally, they're still gonna pay tax on it. So it doesn't really matter from a tax perspective.
But, yeah, it's something that we we try to remove from the practice for them to to, to be able to invest personally.
Yeah. That makes a lot of sense. And they can they can talk with their CPA and tax planner about about those, little details. But, yeah, that that that's strong. That sort of discipline, it makes all the difference in the world. You know?
The other thing I'd I'd love for you to touch on is, talking about exiting a little bit. So over the last few years, obviously, you know, we we we went through the huge the wave. We got to the peak. We're back in a a trough, you know, in terms of of acquisitions.
And a lot of the owners who who didn't sell, you know, when when, you know, acquisitions were at their peak, when multiples were high and it was a feeding frenzy and they didn't go sell then, If if they if they decided for whatever reason, maybe they're just like, hey. I've I've still got a long career here. I'm not ready for that or, you know, whatever it may be. It's certainly, I will tell you, overall, that activity raised the business acumen of practice owners across the country.
I mean, of them just understanding now more valuations and balance sheets and and understanding return on investment, understanding just a lot of a lot of, you know, core basic fundamental business concepts that weren't quite as as commonly understood well before that. I I've seen it the increase in the business acumen, but also a lot of practice owners going like, okay. Well, I if I didn't I didn't exit then, I what is the exit plan? And it's definitely just something that that is more top of mind for people.
And and personally, I think there's another, acquisition wave that's gonna be coming in about five years or so that I think is really tied to the wave of new grads that are gonna be coming from, you know, all the all the vet schools have increased class size, and they approved twelve new vet schools to come online. And if all that plays out, there will be a a, you know, a lot of vets who end up hitting the market between the next five and ten years. And when that happens, you know, we're probably whatever about eight years or so, if that if that plays out, away from potentially the the salaries, and how much vets are paid coming down just because of supply and demand.
And I think a lot of corporates are gonna see, hey, if this plays out because there's the exact same thing played out twenty five years ago in the pharmaceutical industry. And and pharmacists are now effectively earning about fifty percent of what they were earning fifty or sorry, twenty five years ago.
I didn't know that.
Yeah. If you you adjust for inflation. And it was the exact same thing that's been happening in in veterinary. So there's a lot of smart, you know, PE people who who know and recognize that as they see if they if all these schools come online and they start dumping, they they know that they're only five to ten years max from from that playing out, from there being so money in in supply and demand that the most expensive person on staff could be looking at a reduction in overall salary, which becomes profit margin, you know, on a on a corporate balance sheet.
So I think that that's going to drive another big wave of acquisitions that is gonna come back. I think we're in a trough now, and that's gonna be the next wave. So, you know and if you're gonna sell, selling during a feeding frenzy, you get a lot more than you do, you know, when there's not so much activity going on. So for practices that are looking and, you know, how do you advise people to to start thinking about planning and and the things that they should do so that when they actually are whether it's whether it's in six months, two years, five years, ten years, what do they do to plan to maximize that value?
Yeah. You can't control the environment. So whether you're getting a twenty multiple or twelve multiple, which is still awesome. I mean, right now, I mean, they're getting twelve or thirteen multiples, which still pretty awesome.
You know? I mean, when you when you look at that, really comes down to two things. You know? Are you what's your emotional readiness to transition?
What's your financial readiness to transition? Those are the first two questions I'll ask somebody. You know, if they're actually done with the game of ownership and they wanted to go move on to do something else and it's not because they're just burnout, then obviously, you know, that's that's a good reason to transition. And you gotta make sure that that's the case.
That the financial readiness is, is the sale of my practice, and, what I've what I've currently accumulated, in investable assets going to be enough to allow me to live the life that I wanna live? And that, of course, takes a financial analysis that has to be done. And those are two really important questions that, that we ask most of our owners, you know, prior to exiting and obviously do an evaluation to make sure that that's gonna be enough.
As far as, like, getting prepared for a a sale, look. You know, I I always go back to know who your buyers are going to be. Who's gonna buy you? Now in in most cases, you know, ninety percent of deals lately have been by PE, by by corporate groups.
And there are things that they like, and there's things that they don't like. And if you wanna sell to them, which you don't have to, but if you're going to, then you wanna build your business for what they like. Obviously, they like a good, they like a practice that has multiple, veterinarians.
They like one that has a certain profit margin. They wanna see that you're, you're growing and you have new patients, that you're demographically in a good area, that you don't have any compliance issues or anything or or, you know, legal issues going on, and that you have, you know, good leadership and and low turnover in your staff. I mean, those are pretty simple concepts right there. And if you can if you can, you know, align your business to look like that, then you're gonna probably get the higher multiples that are out there.
But if you stay one doctor practice and, you know, your profit margins are, you know, ten percent and, you know, you got a lot of, you know, toxicity at in your practice and and such, you know, you're not gonna get the high multiples.
So it it really just comes down to treating your practice like an investment and not a job.
Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. That's yeah.
I I love it. It's I mean, because when we're gonna say, I mean, you'd have to sit down, you have to do the work. And you need somebody to kinda it it really helps to have somebody who's gonna guide you through, you know, all those considerations, that framework, and all of that. And I know that that is something that that you do, that you offer, that you could, you know, could sit down and help people, talk through that. Yeah?
Oh, for sure. I think most most people need a plan, and they need to have a good financial team, a really good financial team. And I prefer to have a a financial team that understands your industry. I just think there's so much value in that. And talking with, you know, CPAs that that work solely with veterinarians and attorneys that work with veterinarians and, you know, mergers and acquisitions people that that work just with veterinarians. I mean, they just there there are things that they know to ask, and they they see the deal structures and, you know, they can see what other people have done. I just think there's so much value in working with people that understand you're interested.
There's a thousand little things that are very specific and very common in this industry that also aren't really common in other industries and are are are fairly unique and and need to be considered. And so, you know, working with an outside team that's brilliant, but is gonna take a few years to continuously keep discovering these weird little funky things that they have to have to be accounted for and considered much better to to to work with with people that that really understand, you know, the depth of all those different types of things. Well, I know that everybody can reach out to you. We want them to. And you actually brought this really cool giveaway, that you were offering everybody. So we wanna pop up there in chat.
Go to wealth for practice owners dot com. We'll put a link in chat. If you're listening to this on a podcast, wealth for practice owners dot com, and there is a practice expansion checklist there that you gotta go check out. You wanna tell them a little bit about that?
Yeah. I think a question we get a lot is, can I expand? Am I in the right condition to expand my practice? And, you know, we've I've dealt with enough owners to see, like, here are some things that I would look for to make sure that you're in the right condition to expand. So we have a bit of a checklist here that you can go through. Doesn't have to be a hundred percent, that you have all these things in place, but the majority of them, if you have those in place, then, that would give you a lot of confidence that you can expand and and do it in a way that, you know, you don't regret it, you know, six months later.
Yeah. That's that's important. That's helpful. You know?
Making sure that you you have a good plan going into it and you're not regretting it. And a lot of you know, not everybody's in a in a, you know, situation where they can expand.
Right.
My partner, doctor Drake, as much as the Drake Center is just a a a prize practice, they're physically limited. They can't expand their building. They can only bring on so much. They they did get creative during COVID and built an annex in an an adjacent building, which was was a difficult, thing to do.
Beauto turned out beautifully, though, and it it did help them achieve some expansion. But truthfully, I mean, if they didn't have the city limiting what they could do, they they could the business has the ability to grow significantly more. There's a lot of people out there that that can expand, and that's fantastic for you guys. Again, one more time, wealth for practice owners dot com.
Check it out. Go to the get the expansion checklist. And then, of course, for anybody who wants to follow-up with Eric and just, you know, get the ball rolling, for financial conversations that make a lot of sense, that can help you out with somebody who understands you, who understands your situation, understands this industry, go to econologics financial advisors dot com. I know it's a mouthful.
We're gonna go ahead and put that in chat and in the show notes as well. Econologics financial advisors dot com.
Eric, any parting words of wisdom?
Jeez. What can I tell people?
Don't be afraid to confront your finances. It's it's the only thing that will allow you to change your condition.
Just be willing to confront them, and I I think it usually starts with that.
I love that. And I love what you said early on too. Like, having money is righteous. You know?
Totally is.
The one one perspective on that that I I wanted to say right when you when you said that at the top of the show.
Look. There's money that's out there. All the money that's out there, it's in it's in somebody's pocket. Right?
And and it it changes hands and it goes around, and not everybody out there is as is as, like, just good and altruistic and empathetic and wonderful as veterinarians are by and large. I mean, veterinarians are just great people. Let's put more hands on the money of really good people because they're gonna they're more likely to do good things with it. Right?
There's there's a little bit that you use just like you talk about, hey. You gotta have your buckets and everything to get paid for. Some of it's the fun bucket to go treat yourself. You deserve it.
But vets are gonna put do a lot more that's good for the world because that's just who they are. So let's let's get some more money in vets' pockets.
That's that's perfect. I couldn't agree more.
I love that. Well, thank you so much for taking some time and joining us here today on the Genius Pet Show. And, for everybody else, stay tuned. Got something for you real quick.
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